S. Korea to host APEC Summit next month, where Trump, Xi could meet for 1st time in 6 years
President Lee Jae Myung waves to the audience at the Busan International Film Festival in Busan on Saturday. (Yonhap) President Lee Jae Myung leaves for New York on Monday to attend the UN General Assembly in a trip that could serve as preparation for next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, where US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet.
Lee will deliver a speech Tuesday at the start of the UN General Assembly’s general debate and chair an open debate of the UN Security Council on Wednesday — the first time a South Korean leader has done so. He also plans bilateral meetings with the leaders of France, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Uzbekistan, with talks focused on defense and infrastructure cooperation.
Lee is also scheduled to meet financiers, including BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, before returning Friday.
His visit comes ahead of the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 APEC summit in Gyeongju, where Trump and Xi will hold their first encounter in more than six years. Their meeting is expected to dominate the gathering, with US-China relations central to global trade and security concerns.
It is not yet clear whether the Trump-Xi encounter will be a formal summit or a more informal exchange. But it will be the first in-person bilateral contact between the two leaders since Trump’s second term began. It will also mark the first time in 13 years that both US and Chinese leaders visit South Korea simultaneously, since the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit.
In his Truth Social post, Trump also said he planned to visit China early next year, with Xi expected to make a reciprocal trip to the US “at an appropriate time.”
consnow@heraldcorp.com